Saturday, September 12, 2009

Seaweed Salad



This week for our 200th edition of Weekend Herb Blogging I'll be taking a closer look at seaweed.



kizami kombu© by Haalo




First up is Kizami Kombu - this is presented in an ultra fine shredded form. Kombu is the name given to particular variety of giant kelp. You can use this in soups or salads.



hokkaido kiridashi kombu© by Haalo

This is Kiridashi Kombu from Hokkaido and it's packaged as these narrow flat strips. Those white markings you'll find on kombu are perfectly harmless so there's no need to wash the kombu before using - you can wipe it lightly with a moistened cloth if you like. Kombu is most commonly used to make dashi.



fuero wakame© by Haalo

Finally we have Wakame and this is a cut variety, you can also find it in a shredded form. It's much darker in colour when compared to Kombu but when rehydrated, it turns a beautiful vibrant green as you'll see in the dish that I've made.

Seaweed is full of calcium, iodine, iron and phosphorous - it helps with digestion and helps to keep your thyroid in good health so it's something we should be eating more of.

The dish I've made couldn't be any easier if I tried - a classic seaweed salad.



seaweed salad© by Haalo

Seaweed Salad

2 teaspoons dried wakame
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Shoyu (Japanese Soy Sauce)
½ teaspoon caster sugar
sesame seeds
Shichimi Togarashi

Note:
Wakame swells to about 10 times its size when rehydrated so you'll only need to use 1-2 teaspoons of dried Wakame to satisfy most recipe requirements.


Place the wakame into a bowl and cover generously with cold water - let this sit for 5 minutes or until expanded and tender.

You'll immediately note that it's turned that wonderful bright green colour.

Drain and pat dry - place into clean bowl.

Make the dressing:

Pour the rice vinegar, shoyu and caster sugar into a small bowl - whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and then make any adjustments according to your own preference.

Sprinkle a few sesame seeds over the wakame and then drizzle over the dressing, toss gently and then serve.



seaweed salad© by Haalo

Finish off with a few more sesame seeds and a good sprinkling of Shichimi Togarashi.



There's still plenty to join in and be part of the 200th Weekend Herb Blogging just make sure your entry is submitted by:
  • 3pm Sunday - Utah Time
  • 10pm Sunday - London Time
  • 11pm Sunday - Rome Time
  • 7am Monday - Melbourne (Aus) Time
(I won't be up at 7am so you'll have a few extra hours to get those emails in!)

You can find the full details here.

8 comments

  1. Love love love seaweed and seaweed salad!
    So good for your skin and your body...
    lovely recipe and photo!

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  2. Two hundredth edition? Wow! Awesome!

    I love the last photo, especially. Would love to taste your salad.

    Paz

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  3. Oh fabulous! Our local greengrocer sells kombu and wakame by the kilo. Have always baulked a little at the price, but if one only needs a teaspoon or two... I'm there tomorrow morning. Love it.

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  4. that salad looks lovely - and the photos of seaweed are gorgeous - congratulations on 200 WHB - I don't think I will get anything in for this one I am sorry to say but will enjoy seeing what others do

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  5. the photos are great!
    i especially like the ones with dried seaweed.
    i'm sure the salad tastes wonderfully too!

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  6. Thanks Winnie!

    Thanks Paz!

    Thanks Lorena - if you're making miso soup and using the cut wakame a teaspoon would be enough.

    Thanks Johanna - there's bound to be some great ideas in the recap!

    Thanks Lulu!

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  7. Wakame salad looks really good. I use wakame for salad quite often, but usually with cucumber or onion slices and have never thought about using wakame alone. Shichimi togarashi must be a nice kick. Great idea! :D

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  8. I think this recipe will be good.
    If you're looking for a shichimi togarashi source- I just received RawSpiceBar's freshly ground shichimi togarashi in a small batch and it was fantastic. Highly recommend

    ReplyDelete

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